Prime Outgoing Octopus: 16p/kWh From 4pm to 7pm

Prime Outgoing Octopus is an export tariff designed for homes that can shift more of their electricity export into the early evening.

You’re paid 16p per kWh for electricity exported between 4pm and 7pm, and 9p per kWh during the rest of the day. It is particularly suited to homes with solar panels and a battery that can store energy during the day and export it during the higher-paying evening period.

Unlike Agile Outgoing, you don’t need to follow changing half-hourly prices. But unlike the standard Outgoing Octopus tariff, you don’t get the same rate all day.

The important question is therefore not simply whether 16p/kWh sounds attractive. It is whether you can move enough of your export into the 4pm–7pm window to make up for receiving only 9p/kWh at other times.

What you need to know about Prime Outgoing Octopus

Octopus currently describes Prime Outgoing as a 12-month fixed-term tariff with a locked-in rate formula and no exit fees. You need a compatible smart meter capable of sending half-hourly export data.

What is Prime Outgoing Octopus?

Prime Outgoing Octopus is one of Octopus Energy’s smart export tariffs.

An import tariff determines what you pay when your home takes electricity from the grid. An export tariff determines what you are paid when electricity flows from your home back into the grid.

Prime Outgoing only deals with the second part.

Your smart meter measures imported and exported electricity separately, so the electricity you export does not simply cancel out electricity you have imported. Instead, Octopus records your export and credits you at the appropriate Prime Outgoing rate.

Prime Outgoing has two export periods:

That makes the tariff relatively simple compared with Agile Outgoing: you know exactly which part of the day you want to target.

Prime Outgoing Octopus rates

The current Prime Outgoing Octopus rates are:

16p/kWh between 4pm and 7pm

and

9p/kWh outside 4pm–7pm.

There is no export standing charge. Octopus also currently lists Prime Outgoing as having no exit fee, despite it being a 12-month fixed-term product.

That means the tariff is less about predicting changing electricity prices and more about when you can export your electricity.

How does Prime Outgoing work?

Imagine your solar panels generate more electricity during the middle of the day than your home needs.

Without a battery, much of that surplus electricity may immediately be exported to the grid.

On Prime Outgoing, electricity exported outside the peak period would currently earn 9p/kWh.

With a home battery, however, you may be able to store some of that electricity rather than exporting it straight away.

You could then discharge the battery between 4pm and 7pm, when exported electricity earns 16p/kWh.

For example:

Solar panels → battery during the day → export battery between 4pm and 7pm → receive 16p/kWh for the electricity exported.

Octopus also says its Outgoing tariffs can be used for electricity stored in a home battery, including electricity bought cheaply from the grid and exported later, provided your setup is capable of exporting it.

That makes Prime Outgoing particularly interesting if your import tariff also gives you access to cheap electricity at another time of day.

However, charging a battery simply to export it again does not automatically mean you will make money. You should also account for your import price, battery efficiency, household usage and the additional battery cycling involved.

Is Prime Outgoing better than Outgoing Octopus?

This is probably the most important comparison.

The standard Outgoing Octopus tariff currently pays a flat 12p/kWh, regardless of when you export.

Prime Outgoing instead pays:

• 16p/kWh from 4pm–7pm
• 9p/kWh at all other times

So Prime gives you an extra 4p/kWh during its peak period, but you give up 3p/kWh on electricity exported during the rest of the day.

The 42.9% rule

There is a useful break-even point.

For Prime Outgoing to beat Octopus’ flat 12p/kWh export rate, approximately 42.9% of your total exported electricity needs to be exported between 4pm and 7pm.

Here is what that looks like if you export 1,000 kWh over a year:

Your actual result could also be affected by battery losses, how much electricity your home consumes between 4pm and 7pm, your import tariff and how you control your battery.

But it illustrates the key point:

Prime Outgoing becomes much more interesting when you can deliberately concentrate a large proportion of your export into the evening peak.

Who is Prime Outgoing best for?

Prime Outgoing is most likely to make sense for a household with solar panels and a home battery that has enough spare battery capacity to export electricity between 4pm and 7pm.

It could be particularly useful if:

• you regularly have surplus solar generation to store;
• your battery can be scheduled to discharge between 4pm and 7pm;
• you can export a significant proportion of your electricity during that window;
• you prefer predictable prices rather than Agile Outgoing’s changing half-hourly rates;
• your compatible import tariff gives you opportunities to charge your battery cheaply.

It may also suit somebody who wants a relatively simple battery strategy: charge or store when electricity is cheap or plentiful, then reserve some capacity for the 4pm–7pm export window.

Who might be better staying on standard Outgoing?

Prime Outgoing will not necessarily be better for every solar household.

If you have solar panels without a battery, much of your surplus electricity will naturally be exported while your panels are producing it.

That means a large proportion of your export could receive Prime’s lower 9p/kWh rate rather than the 16p/kWh peak rate.

The standard Outgoing tariff’s flat 12p/kWh rate may therefore be easier to benefit from if you cannot control when your electricity is exported.

Prime may also be less suitable if your household uses a lot of electricity between 4pm and 7pm. Your battery may be needed to power your own home during that period, leaving less electricity available to export.

For many households, using stored electricity to avoid importing expensive electricity can be more valuable than exporting it. The two should be considered together.

Do you need a battery for Prime Outgoing?

A battery is not the point of the tariff by itself, but being able to control when you export is.

However, Octopus specifically positions Prime Outgoing towards homes with solar and battery storage because a battery gives you much greater control over the timing of your export.

Without one, you are largely dependent on when your solar panels generate surplus electricity.

A battery allows you to:

Generate → store → export later.

That makes it much easier to target the 4pm–7pm period.

The size of your battery also matters. A small battery that is mostly needed to power your home through the evening may have relatively little electricity left to export.

Can you charge your battery cheaply and export at 16p?

Potentially.

Octopus’s Outgoing guidance explicitly discusses charging home batteries when electricity is cheap and exporting stored electricity later when export rates are higher.

But you should compare the whole cycle rather than simply subtracting one headline rate from another.

For example, electricity put into a battery is not returned with 100% efficiency. Some energy is lost during charging and discharging.

If you import electricity specifically to export it later, consider:

Import cost + battery losses + battery cycling versus export income.

You should also check the export limits agreed for your installation with your Distribution Network Operator.

Prime Outgoing vs Agile Outgoing

Both tariffs reward households that can control when they export, but they work very differently.

Agile Outgoing follows day-ahead wholesale electricity prices and publishes a different export price for every half-hour period. Octopus describes its rate formula as uncapped.

Agile can therefore sometimes pay considerably more or less than Prime.

Prime is the simpler proposition: you know the main target is always 4pm–7pm.

If you want to automate your battery around changing electricity prices and are comfortable with variable returns, Agile Outgoing may be worth comparing.

If you would rather use a repeatable daily schedule, Prime is much easier to understand.

Prime Outgoing vs Octopus Flux

Prime Outgoing is primarily an export tariff.

Octopus Flux works differently because it is designed as a combined import-and-export arrangement for homes with solar panels and battery storage. Octopus describes Flux as an import and export tariff built specifically around solar and batteries.

That means you should not compare the tariffs using their export rates alone.

With Flux, you need to look at:

what you pay to import + when you can charge your battery + what you receive for export.

With Prime Outgoing, you can instead pair your export arrangement with one of Octopus’s compatible import tariffs.

That flexibility can be particularly useful if another Octopus import tariff better suits something else in your home, such as an electric vehicle.

Which Octopus import tariffs work with Prime Outgoing?

Prime Outgoing sits alongside a separate Octopus import tariff.

However, not every Octopus smart import tariff can necessarily be combined with every export tariff. Octopus maintains a compatibility table showing which import and export products can be paired.

This is important if you already use a specialist tariff for an EV, heat pump or battery.

Do not switch your export tariff based purely on the Prime rates without checking whether your existing import tariff is compatible.

The overall combination of your import tariff + export tariff + home technology matters more than a specific tariff price.

Can you get Prime Outgoing if you’re not an Octopus customer?

Prime Outgoing requires you to become an Octopus Energy customer.

Octopus says customers joining its Outgoing tariffs should first have their energy supply with Octopus and then apply for the export tariff once their account is set up.

If you keep your electricity import supply with another energy company, Octopus currently offers an export-only Smart Export Guarantee option instead, paying 4.1p/kWh.

So if you specifically want Prime Outgoing, you should consider your Octopus import tariff at the same time rather than treating the export tariff as a completely separate supplier decision.

Prime Outgoing eligibility

To receive export payments, Octopus needs to be able to measure the electricity leaving your property.

You’ll generally need:

• an eligible generation or battery export setup;
• an Octopus Energy account;
• a compatible smart meter;
• half-hourly export readings;
• an export MPAN;
• the required installation and DNO documentation.

Octopus says almost all SMETS2 smart meters and most SMETS1 meters can provide the necessary half-hourly export data, although compatibility should be confirmed for your individual meter.

If your property does not already have an export MPAN, Octopus can apply to your Distribution Network Operator for one.

How to switch to Prime Outgoing Octopus

If you’re already an Octopus customer with an eligible smart meter and export setup, you can switch via the Octopus website here.

If you do not already have an export MPAN, Octopus currently describes the process as:

1. Apply to Octopus – Octopus processes the application.
2. Export MPAN request – Octopus applies to your Distribution Network Operator where necessary.
3. DNO creates the export MPAN – Octopus says this can take around 1–4 weeks.
4. Octopus enrols the MPAN – currently described as taking around five days.
5. Smart meter connection – Octopus begins collecting your export readings and applying your export payments.

If you’re not yet with Octopus, you will need to switch your electricity supply to Octopus first before applying for Prime Outgoing.

Switch to Octopus Energy →

What about Feed-in Tariff payments?

You cannot receive a Feed-in Tariff export payment and an Outgoing Octopus payment for the same exported electricity.

If you receive FiT payments, it may still be possible to retain your generation payment while opting out of the export part of the FiT scheme and moving the measured export onto an Outgoing tariff.

Octopus also says that if you only started receiving FiT payments within the previous 12 months, FiT rules may prevent you moving to Outgoing immediately.

Check your existing FiT arrangement carefully before changing it.

Is Prime Outgoing Octopus worth it?

Prime Outgoing is an interesting middle ground between the 12p flat-rate Outgoing and the fully dynamic Agile Outgoing tariff.

You get a predictable target:

export as much as possible between 4pm and 7pm.

For a solar-only home that exports most of its surplus during daylight hours, the 9p/kWh rest-of-day rate can make Prime less attractive than the 12p/kWh flat Outgoing tariff.

For a home with a battery that can deliberately move a large proportion of export into the evening, the calculation changes significantly.

As a useful rule of thumb, based on the current rates, you need around 43% of your exported electricity to land between 4pm and 7pm for Prime to outperform 12p/kWh flat Outgoing on export income alone.

That makes Prime less about how much solar you generate and much more about how much control you have over when your electricity leaves the house.

Before switching, compare Prime with Outgoing Octopus, Agile Outgoing and Octopus Flux, then look at your import tariff as part of the same calculation.

Prime Outgoing Octopus FAQs

What is the Prime Outgoing Octopus rate?

Prime Outgoing currently pays 16p/kWh for electricity exported between 4pm and 7pm and 9p/kWh at all other times.

What time is the Prime Outgoing peak period?

The higher export rate applies between 4pm and 7pm.

How much does Prime Outgoing pay outside 4pm–7pm?

Electricity exported outside the peak window currently receives 9p/kWh.

Does Prime Outgoing have an exit fee?

No. Octopus currently states that Prime Outgoing has no exit fees.

Is Prime Outgoing fixed?

Octopus describes Prime Outgoing as a 12-month fixed-term tariff with a locked-in rate formula.

Does Prime Outgoing have a standing charge?

There is no separate export standing charge on Octopus’s Outgoing tariffs.

Do I need solar panels?

Octopus markets Prime Outgoing primarily towards homes with solar panels and home battery storage. Its wider Outgoing tariff rules also allow electricity stored in batteries and other eligible sources to be exported to the grid.

Do I need a battery?

A battery gives you much greater control over when you export and therefore makes it considerably easier to target the 4pm–7pm peak period. Prime Outgoing is specifically positioned by Octopus towards homes able to shift their export into that window.

Is Prime Outgoing better than the 12p Outgoing tariff?

It depends on when you export. At the current rates, Prime needs roughly 42.9% of your exported electricity to fall between 4pm and 7pm to beat a constant 12p/kWh export rate on export payments alone.

Is Prime Outgoing better than Agile Outgoing?

Neither tariff will suit every household. Prime gives you predictable 16p and 9p time bands, while Agile Outgoing changes every half hour according to its day-ahead pricing formula. Prime is simpler; Agile gives you more exposure to changing wholesale prices.

Can I switch away from Prime Outgoing?

Yes. Although Prime is a 12-month fixed-term tariff, Octopus currently lists it as having no exit fee.

Tariff rates, eligibility and terms can change. Always check the prices and tariff terms shown by Octopus Energy before switching.

Last checked: September 2026